Hallo! In the previous lesson, you practiced spelling names and email addresses with German letter names—especially useful when checking in at a university office or speaking on the phone. Before you can give those details, though, you need a suitable way to begin and end the interaction.
This lesson gives you a practical set of German greetings and farewells for university life, classmates, and everyday encounters. The central skill is not simply memorizing phrases: it is choosing a phrase that fits the relationship, setting, and time of day.
A useful principle: polite when uncertain
German greetings are shaped by two questions:
- Who are you speaking to? A friend, a fellow student, a lecturer, or a university employee?
- What is the setting? Is it a relaxed conversation, an official desk, or a phone call?
In a university context, use a polite, neutral greeting when you first speak with staff, instructors, or people you do not know. With classmates and friends, you can normally be more casual.
The safest beginner rule is:
- Formal or uncertain situation: Guten Tag and Auf Wiedersehen
- Casual situation: Hallo or Hi, and Tschüss
This does not mean every real conversation follows a strict formula. In Germany, Hallo and Tschüss are very common and may be heard even in shops or relaxed workplaces. But if you want a reliably polite choice at an administrative office or during an initial conversation with an instructor, Guten Tag and Auf Wiedersehen are dependable.
For now, you do not need to master all the grammar behind du and Sie. Just remember the practical distinction: interactions with friends tend to be informal; interactions with university staff and unfamiliar adults should begin politely. You will return to du and Sie in a later lesson.
Core greetings: time of day and formality
The following greetings are your essential starting set.
| German | Approximate meaning | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| Guten Morgen! | Good morning | Morning; polite and suitable for most people |
| Guten Tag! | Good day | Daytime; safe in formal or neutral situations |
| Guten Abend! | Good evening | Later in the day; polite and suitable for most people |
| Hallo! | Hello | Neutral and common; especially useful with classmates |
| Hi! | Hi | Casual, mostly with peers, friends, and young people |
| Na? | Hi / How’s it going? | Very casual; recognize it, but do not rely on it yet |
The time boundaries are not exact. Guten Morgen is used in the morning, Guten Tag through most of the day, and Guten Abend later in the day. The important distinction is that these are standard, polite greetings—not phrases reserved only for formal business situations.
A few pronunciation reminders connect this lesson to your earlier sound work:
- Guten Tag: the final g in Tag is pronounced like a k sound.
- Hallo: stress the second syllable: hah-LOH.
- Tschüss: the opening tsch sounds like English ch in chair; ß is an s sound.
- Wiedersehen: the w sounds like English v, and ie is a long ee sound.
One important exception: Gute Nacht
Gute Nacht! means “Good night,” but it is normally a farewell before sleep, not a greeting when you meet someone at night.
- You arrive at an evening class: Guten Abend!
- You leave your flatmate to go to bed: Gute Nacht!
With a friend or family member, you may also say Schlaf gut! (“Sleep well!”). This is informal and personal, so do not use it with a lecturer or university receptionist.
Hear the greetings in real conversations
Learn Basic German Greetings & Farewells in Slow German | Super Easy German 274
Watch Learn Basic German Greetings & Farewells in Slow German by Easy German. It shows the contrast between a relaxed phone conversation and a more formal one, so you can hear that choosing a phrase depends on the social situation—not just its dictionary translation.
First watch the casual basics. Listen for Hallo and Tschüss, then replay the brief phone exchange and repeat both speakers’ greetings aloud. Next watch the formal call. Notice how Guten Tag opens a more formal interaction and how Auf Wiedersehen closes it. The video also introduces Auf Wiederhören, a formal farewell used specifically on the telephone.
After watching, say these pairs aloud with a short pause between them:
Hallo! — Tschüss!
Guten Tag! — Auf Wiedersehen!
Guten Morgen! — Guten Tag!
Guten Abend! — Gute Nacht!
The first two are pairs for social formality. The last two help you distinguish a greeting from a bedtime farewell.
Farewells: ending the interaction well
Your choice of farewell should reflect both the relationship and whether you expect to see the person again soon.
| German | Meaning | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Auf Wiedersehen! | Goodbye | Polite, formal, or neutral face-to-face farewell |
| Auf Wiederhören! | Goodbye, literally “until hearing again” | Formal telephone farewell |
| Tschüss! | Bye | Casual, widely used everyday farewell |
| Ciao! | Bye | Casual; common with friends and peers |
| Bis bald! | See you soon | Informal; when you expect to meet again |
| Bis später! | See you later | Informal; often when you will meet again later that day |
| Gute Nacht! | Good night | When someone is going to sleep or leaving late at night |
There is a useful difference between the two “see you” phrases:
- Use Bis später! when “later” is reasonably specific, often later the same day.
- Use Bis bald! when you expect to see the person again soon, but no exact time has been arranged.
For example, after a morning class:
Tschüss, bis später!
After saying goodbye to a classmate at the end of the week:
Tschüss, bis bald!
Do not use Bis später automatically with a university employee if you do not actually expect another meeting later. In that situation, Auf Wiedersehen is clearer and safer.
Choosing the right pair in university life
At the beginning, it is helpful to learn a few complete situation-based scripts rather than trying to construct every interaction from scratch.
| Situation | Opening | Closing | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| At the international office | Guten Tag! | Auf Wiedersehen! | Polite and professional |
| Speaking to a lecturer for the first time | Guten Tag! | Auf Wiedersehen! | Respectful and safe |
| Calling a university office | Guten Tag! | Auf Wiederhören! | Formal phone convention |
| Meeting a new classmate at orientation | Hallo! | Tschüss! | Friendly and natural among students |
| Leaving a study group | Hallo! | Tschüss, bis bald! | Casual, with an expectation of seeing each other again |
| Saying goodnight to a flatmate | Guten Abend! when arriving | Gute Nacht! when going to bed | Time and situation are different |
Notice that Guten Tag does not force you into a long, stiff conversation. It simply establishes polite distance. Similarly, Hallo is a versatile greeting: it is less formal than Guten Tag, but it is not rude.
When you are unsure, use this short decision routine:
- If the interaction is with a staff member, instructor, or unfamiliar adult, begin with Guten Tag.
- If it is morning or evening, Guten Morgen or Guten Abend can replace Guten Tag.
- If the person is a peer or friend, choose Hallo or Hi.
- End formal face-to-face interactions with Auf Wiedersehen.
- End relaxed conversations with Tschüss, adding Bis bald or Bis später only when it makes sense.
Short dialogues to make the choices automatic
Read each dialogue aloud twice: once as the student and once as the other speaker. Concentrate on selecting the appropriate opening and closing.
1. At a university office
Student: Guten Tag!
Staff member: Guten Tag!
Student: Auf Wiedersehen!
Staff member: Auf Wiedersehen!
This is short, polite, and completely appropriate even before you can say much else in German.
2. Meeting another student
Student A: Hallo!
Student B: Hi!
Student A: Tschüss!
Student B: Tschüss, bis bald!
This feels more relaxed. Both Hallo and Hi work, although Hallo is slightly more neutral.
3. Calling a university office
Student: Guten Tag!
Office: Guten Tag!
Student: Auf Wiederhören!
Office: Auf Wiederhören!
Use Auf Wiederhören only by phone. In person, say Auf Wiedersehen.
A brief daily speaking routine
For five minutes, imagine three encounters from your own future study routine: arriving at a lecture, asking something at an office, and leaving a study group. Say only the greeting and farewell for each one. Then change the time of day and choose whether Guten Morgen, Guten Tag, or Guten Abend fits better.
The goal is quick recognition: you should hear a situation and immediately have one safe German opening and closing available.
Key takeaways
You can now select greetings and farewells that fit basic formal and informal situations:
- Guten Morgen, Guten Tag, and Guten Abend are standard, polite greetings chosen mainly by time of day.
- Hallo is common and neutral; Hi is more casual.
- For a formal or uncertain university interaction, use Guten Tag and Auf Wiedersehen.
- With classmates and friends, Hallo and Tschüss are natural choices.
- Auf Wiederhören is a formal farewell for telephone calls.
- Gute Nacht is a farewell before sleep, not a general nighttime greeting.
- If you are uncertain, beginning slightly more formally is a safe choice.
Next, you will build short sentences with German subject pronouns and the present-tense forms of sein (“to be”), allowing you to move beyond a greeting and say who you are.
Can't find a good explanation? Sign up and we'll make it for you
Sign up